Robots are amazing machines. Today you can find autonomous or semi-autonomous robots in a wide range of places. Welding and construction robots play an invaluable role in industry, humanoid robots are expected to have a huge role in the customer service world and military robots may one day replace much of our army. Robots have the unique advantage of being able to perform repetitive tasks without tiring and dangerous tasks without the risk of irreplaceable loss.
Competitions
Since the 1970’s robotic competitions have been organized as a way to push teams towards improving robotic technology. Until recently these competitions have been largely the domain of big educational institutions and organizations such as NASA. In 1992 the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition was started. It’s goal? To inspire young people across the globe to attempt challenges and bring their technological ideas into reality. Today, the FIRST programs reach over 400,000 young people annually. There are teams from every country with participants ranging in ages from 6-18.
College and Career Success
These robotic competitions have very tangible effects on students. FIRST alumni are 2.6 times more likely to enroll in an engineering course their freshman year of college and over 75% of FIRST alumni are in a STEM field as a student or professional. The positive gains that come from competing only increase year-to-year. Participants are over 2 times as likely to show gains in their interest of STEM (even more for girls).
How we can help
At Robotic Explorers we’re huge fans of the FIRST programs. Since our founding we have consistently had a number of teams. At our facility our goal is to train students through individualized programs and support their engineering skills through team collaboration and competitiveness.
